, 1887-10-26
A MENDING BUREAU.
WHERE THE TATTERED AND TORN
MAY LIE UP FOR REPAIRS.

You will readily guess what a mending
bureau is. 1t is a place where the tat
tered and torn may lay up for repairs,
where the elusive button may be fastened
in its socket so tight that it stays there
for the rest of his natural life, where he
that hath a torn lining to his over
coat may have a new lining put in its
place or the old one brought to a proper
frame of mind, where a rip in the coat
sleeve may be doctored in genuinely scien-
tilc style, where the right sort of treat
ment is administered to all sorts and con-
ditions of dilapidated garments.
A reporter stood in front of a big jew
elry store, wondering If there really were
"great reductions in watches and lila
monds," when he encountered an ac-
quaintance of erstwhile seedy but present
dapper appearance.
give just been to the mending bureau"
said this worthy, land 1 feel like a new
man. The lining of my coat had slipped
its moorings, and every time 1 put on the
coat l swore new and attractive oaths.
There was fringe on my trouser legs. My
cuffs were pinned on. My pants were
supported only by a shoe string and a
piece OF clothes line. Suspender buttons
l had none. There were only two buttons
on my vest, and l kept 1t on with a bent
hairpin. If l had sneezed hard l should
have stood painless and forlorn before n
gaping, jibing world.
OFFICIATING GOOD ANGELS.
"while in this sorry plight 1 found this
morning n circular OF the mending bureau.
1t was sent to me by some special dispen-
sation Of a plying providence. l went to
the mending bureau and stayed twenty
minutes. They did not repair me COM
pletely, for am a modest man, and the
officiating angels are all of the gentler sex,
but my coat lining is in a state of perfec-
ton That fills me with admiration My
cuffs are now properly attached to their
buttons. My vest displays a goodly array
of buttons upon its facade. / am going
home, where l shall go to bed and send a
boy down to the mending bureau with
those articles of apparel, the mending of
which cannot well be done In my pres
ence," AMI so saying the mended and
happy man vanished.
The reporter felt his external raiment
all over, but failed to find anything for
the mending bureau to experiment upon.
Finally he bethought him that there was
bnt one button on the pack Of his Prince
Albert coat. What do they have those
two buttons on the back of a coat for,
anyhow The absence of one of the duo
of buttons had caused the reporter much
am bhN WINS IL uIAAt ANAIu
from the symmetry of his figure, and
caused hin to walk lop sided. Relief
was Mt hand. The reporter sought the
mending bureau. As yet il consists of Il
single good sized room, light and airy,
and containing sewing machines, work
tables and chairs. Two or three middle
aged ladies and three or four young ladies'
were seated about the room, busily plying
the needle. One was threading a needle,
and she performed that intricate opera
ton SO quickly and neatly that it made
the reporter nviou MS no recalled past
struggles of his own. A tall young lady
with an amused expression in her eloquent
dark eyes asked the blushing reporter
what he wished to ave mended He re
strained an inclination to say that his
heart had suffered a compound fracture,
and coyly explained that another button
on his coat tails was the essential to his
happiness. The young lady smiled and
asked the reporter to remove his coat.
Being an unmarried man, unused to
feminine society, he blpshed like a red,
red rose; then, remembering with glad
ness that he had put on his pink striped
shirt in the morning, he took courage,
took off his coat and accepted a proffered
chair. The other ladies kept on sewing
and paid no attention to the customer.
THE CONVENIENT BUREAU.
There were two other customers in the
room, both minus coats. One was having
a button sewed on his shirt cuff, and the
other had his coat up for repairs. The
ladies sewed rapidly, n the three con
tracts were soon completed. The re-
porter was assisted into his coat by the
tall, dark eyed young lady. This alone
was worth the price of admission, and
five cents was all that was charged for
the replacing of the button, for which the
assurance was given that 1t would stay as
long rs the coat were worn.
1--WE have no regular scale of
prices as yet, " said the manageress OF the
establishment, "as the mending bureau
has only been running n few days. 1t is
the first institution of the kind in the
west, though there is one in New York
that has made a good deal of money. We
thought that there was n demand for a
bureau where the mending of underwear
could be done with neatness and dispatch.
Single gentlemen will appreciate the con-
venience of q bureau where their clothes
are looked after in a good, homelike way.
Ladies who are ovcrburdened with the
cares of housekeeping will also find the
bureau convenient, and we expect to have
considerable trade from people who visit
the city and stop at the hotels. We in
JenQ 10 make arrangements whereby LOT
a small sum paid weekly or monthly we
will keep wardrobes in good repair. We
all do quick work and when we sew a
button on it stays there every time"
The reporter realized fully the truth of
these statements. There are careless
mortals who would quite as leave have
their garments in bad repair, but they are
IN the minority. The great majority will
prefer to have their clothes kept in order,
and if they have no women folk Of their
own to do that sort of thing, the bureau
will be a full ledged boon to them. The
darning of stockings will be a special ben
eft. The average man, who has no one
10 do his mending, now wears a pair Of
socks two or three times, and then throws
them away total wrecks, rent asunder and
worn through by the disastrous processes
Of laundries. Here at the bureau socks can
be darned at low rates, and money will
be saved the wearers thereby. Altogether,
the bureau is an institution that merits
encouragement.-Chicago Herald.